


The Mildly Infuriating Tale Of Harry Moon

by Donsular



Category: Mary Poppins (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Madness, Magic, Mary’s tired of all this nonsense, wild child - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23966476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donsular/pseuds/Donsular
Summary: Sometimes, a person’s very existence can be the source of dread. And when you have experience in causing chaos, that’s the kind of reputation you build. But Mary has seen way too many difficult children to feel threatened by a 12 year old.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	The Mildly Infuriating Tale Of Harry Moon

**Author's Note:**

> I figured I may as well post this. It’s been sat in my files for ages, so I’d say now is as good a time as ever!

Sometimes a person’s very existence is the source of dread. It’s just the way of the world. And that was the case with Harry Moon. His parents were going on a trip to visit his grandparents. But he had been barred from staying in their house since he was six and managed to get a live deer trapped inside. So that meant he was going to have to stay with someone else for the weekend and just hope they didn’t go too mad at him for his antics. It had taken a while to find someone willing to take him, but they managed eventually. Uncle Michael had agreed. He probably didn’t realise what he was getting himself into. He had married his aunt Kate years ago, but after she died, they hadn’t really seen much of him. So he could tell his parents had been desperate when they called him of all people.

He was dropped off on Saturday morning before they rushed off to his grandparents house, leaving him to cause whatever chaos he wanted. He promised his parents that he’d be good. But he always did that, he just couldn’t stick to it.

As soon as he arrived, he was greeted by his cousins. He was slightly older than them but quite a bit taller, however, that didn’t dampen things too much. It just meant he’d have somebody to more easily rope into his schemes. Though there was one person that he very quickly realised would be a pain to deal with: a woman by the name of Mary Poppins. He’d found her surname highly amusing, but that was really the only thing about her that was particularly funny. She was a rather stern woman and was their nanny. Which he thought was rather strange. Who hires a nanny these days anyway? And for kids their age, too?

He brushed her aside along with her attempt at a friendly greeting- which for her, hadn’t come across as particularly friendly, more like snooty- and instead headed upstairs with John, Annabel and Georgie to find something to do. Michael had simply said that lunch would be ready soon, before he left them to it.

“It’s pretty cool to have you over,” John said, “dad said he was going to set up the pull out bed for you later.” Annabel and Georgie sniggered at the idea, knowing their father would be hopeless with the thing and be a brilliant source of entertainment.

“Ok whatever, what toys have you got?” Harry’s flippant tone made it pretty clear that he was already bored of them, but they ignored it and Georgie raced to crawl under his bed to fetch his new prized possession.

“Dad got me this ball yesterday! We could play a game with this.” The rest of the quartet were all happily in agreement, so without further hesitation, he tossed the ball to Harry.

“You know, if you challenge me, it won’t end well. I’m great at this!” His smirk grew as he, rather harshly, threw the ball to Annabel. From there, the game devolved into an extreme game of catch, where you’re not allowed to stand still and if you don’t catch the ball, you’re out for ten seconds. The plan was that whoever had the most catches by the end, won the game. But they never really set a time for when they’d stop.

It wasn’t long before they got a bit too exited and when Harry threw the ball to John, who was standing by the door, it went right passed him, into the hall and over the banister where it bounced off the wall and tumbled down the stairs. At first, they thought it was merely an annoyingly bad throw and both Harry and John where ready to argue over who’s fault it was and who should go get it, but they never got the chance before they heard a cry from the stairs and a thump.

Rushing out, the children came to see where Ellen had tripped on the stairs thanks to the ball she had tried to dodge. But thankfully, she hadn’t lost her balance completely and managed to fall forward, resting her knee of the next step up from her, though she had dropped the washing basket in the process.

“Ellen! Are you alright?” The Banks children’s horror was loud enough to gather both Michael and Mary at the bottom of the stairs.

“Good gracious!” Mary bellowed, “What on Earth happened?” As Michael started to gather up the dropped washing to put back in the basket, Mary rushed to Ellen’s side to help her up.

“I was just minding me own business, next thing I know there’s a ball coming at me ‘ead!”

“It was an accident!” John piped up, quick to clear their names, “We were just playing in our room but we accidentally threw it out.”

“You shouldn’t be throwing a ball inside in the first place!” Michael scolded, “Come on, take it outside before something worse happens.” The four of them scurried outside, though only three of them felt guilty enough to say sorry as they passed. Harry felt more annoyed that their game had been interrupted, and he had quite liked it. It wouldn’t work as well outside anyway.

“Why not?” Georgie asked, when Harry told them.

“Because,” he replied, “the whole point of the game is make each other miss the catch. But now we’re outside, the ball will go all over the place and nobody will be able to get it, never mind pass it, before the ten seconds is up.”

“We can just make the time out longer.” Annabel suggested.

“No, it won’t be as much fun if we keep having to run after the ball.” Harry pondered the situation as he bounced the ball off the lamp post. But then, his mindless activity gave him an idea.

“We could torment the lighter that does the lamps.” He always did that back home. Some of them would quit because of him or change their routes, and he must have driven away at least 13 in the past year alone with his explosive pranks. The company had given him warnings, but that’s all he ever got. It’s not like they could do anything anyway. He was just a kid, and they had no evidence it was even him in the first place, as he never had to face off with a lighter to get his pranks to work.

“No!” Georgie was probably the most appalled out of the three of them, “We’re friends with the leeries and we wouldn’t do that to Jack.”

“Leeries? Is that what they’re called around here? That’s a dumb name.” He tried to laugh and get the others to laugh to, but they were adamant that they wouldn’t cause trouble to their friend, and so Harry found himself having to try much harder to get them to join in.

“I don’t mean we hurt him or anything like that. Just a harmless prank. As harmless as jumping out at and shouting boo. He’ll find it funny.” They didn’t seem so sure, “Come on! I’ve done it before and the leeries I’ve done it to thought it was hilarious.” They were still a little hesitant, but it seemed he’d managed to convince them well enough.

“Well, I guess he does finish his rounds here. So we wouldn’t be holding him up.” John mused,

“Exactly!”

“Ok, but only if it’s harmless. So, what’s the plan?”

“Simple, I have some little explosive balls, they pop when you step on them or set them on fire. So, we should put one in the lamp over the bit that has the flame. And when he switches it on, it’ll pop and give him a scare.” As much as they hated to admit it, the devilish idea was quite appealing. Jack definitely came across as the kind of person who enjoyed pranks, so it wouldn’t do any harm.

What this resulted in, was Harry nipping inside the house to collect a little bag of tiny white pellets before climbing up the pole- with surprisingly little difficulty, John noted, he’d clearly done it before- to wrench open the the lamp’s casing and put one of the pellets in. While John and Annabel were quite suspicious of this skill, Georgie was more enamoured, comparing how he slid down the pole to that of a fireman. He’d have to get him to teach him how to do that.

The four of them giggled like the young children they were, however, they weren’t ready for it to go so wrong. It seemed Harry had been a little to rough with the pellet when he jammed it in, and he hadn’t been down for 5 seconds before there was a loud bang behind him, not the loud pop he’d said they’d get. The explosion was powerful enough that the glass panes on all four sides shattered, with pieces raining down below.

“Oops.”

“You said it would be a pop! It shouldn’t have done that!”

“I said it would pop, but not how big of a pop it would be.”

“You knew it would do that?!”

“I didn’t know it would go off early!” he huffed, “Now we can’t blame it on the leerie.”

“That was your plan?! Why would you do that?! That’s so mean!”

“What’s going on out here?” Michael stepped outside, interrupting the bickering, to see what all the noise was. He’d expected something small, maybe a little spat over the rules of whatever game they were playing, but when he laid his eyes on the shattered lamp case, he turned an angry red.

“What have you done? Who did that?” The four of them looked between each other, totally unsure of what to do.

“It wasn’t me!” Michael had never heard four voices so perfectly in sync, but that’s what happened, each one of them very quick to pass the blame. He wasn’t really sure what to do, and after the morning he’d had, he didn’t really have the energy to play detective. Michael may have just ignored their defence and punished them all if the culprits didn’t come forward, no matter how unfair it would be. But Mary Poppins was not a fan of things being unfair. So she stepped out, having also heard the fuss, and eyed each child individually. She wasn’t a mind reader, but she could deduce. She never knew the Banks children to be so destructive, and when she spotted Harry trying to hide something behind his back, it was rather clear.

“Harry, what are you hiding?”

“Nothing.” He spat, while trying to hide the pellets and pretend to be appalled by her accusation. But despite this, she clearly didn’t believe him. Without another word, she held out her hand for him to give her whatever he had. He tried for a long few seconds to feign innocence, but after a gruelling ten seconds, he gave in, passing her the bag.

Mary inspected the pellets for a moment, with a totally emotionless expression. She’d come across them a few times with troublesome families. But it was usually the teenagers that had them. She couldn’t imagine how someone as young as Harry had gotten ahold of them.

“And where did you get these, may I ask?”

“None of your business.” Yet again, she was silent, the only difference being that she looked at him instead of the bag.

“A friend gave them to me.” She raised a brow.

“I stole them.”

“So I suppose this was your doing?” He didn’t even try to hold his tongue, kicking at the ground as he spat out,

“Yeah. So what?” She was still quiet for another moment, but Harry had nothing else to say. So she carried on even without any apology from him.

“Michael, I suggest you call the lighting office to get someone out to fix this. That lamp can’t be used until it’s repaired. I’ll handle the children. And I suggest you find a safe place for these.” She said, handing the pellets to Michael, who nodded and headed back inside.

“Now,” she said, turning back to the children, “I suggest you take that ball to the park and play something a little less rowdy.” The four of them stood in total shock, looking between each other to see if they’d heard her right. But they were hardly going to wait for her to change her mind, so they happily did as they were told and ran across the street to the park.

“Except for you, Harry.” He stopped as the others kept going, turning around in a huff.

“What?! That’s not fair!”

“You were the one to break the lamp, were you not?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Exactly. And I’d hardly call that fair for whoever has to fix it. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Ok, but-”

“Very well then. You will take your punishment. Come along, we don’t have all day. I have some errands to run and you’re coming with me.” Mary said it so matter-of-factly that she didn’t even need to check to see if Harry followed her. She already knew he was. She set off down the street at a brisk pace, and with Harry having already been half way across the street when she set off, the extra stationary moment when he hesitated meant that he practically had to run to catch up, and once he had, he had to maintain Mary’s brisk pace, almost bordering on a jog to stay close to her.

It was quite tiring for his short legs to keep up with her, but he supposed it was part of the punishment. But he didn’t want to just take it, no, not from some snooty-fruity witch like her. But as he weaved through the busy streets, trying to keep up, he didn’t have much of a chance to focus and conspire a way to get back at her. Still, it was a beautifully sunny day, and he’d be damned if he wasted it doing jobs he didn’t care about.

“Alright, let’s see.” Mary finally stopped at the corner of the street, having finally made it into town. She wasn’t half kidding when she said she had some errands. Somehow, she acted like it was perfectly normal as she pulled her list out of the pocket of her coat, but no matter how much she pulled out, it just kept going, being unraveled like a scroll. Harry spluttered at the sight and whipped his head around to check if anyone else could see what he was seeing. And yet nobody even batted an eye as she continued to pull out her eternally long list. After almost a minute, she finished pulling out almost 20 metres of paper, all landing in a pile on the, thankfully dry, pavement.

“First we need to get 2 pots of jam and some bread, before heading to the fishmonger for some sea bass and a pint of prawns and then we can go to the fabric shop for 3 lengths of Hungarian crushed velvet curtain material, after which, we’ll go to-”

“Please don’t read it all out. There has to be a million things on that list!” She looked at him for a moment, as if she would ignore him and carry on, but instead, Mary sighed and said,

“I suppose you’re right. We don’t want to be here all day.”

“Oh thank god.” Mary’s eyes didn’t leave him as she snapped her fingers at the side of her pocket and the list shot back inside like she had released a retractable tape measure. Yet again, nobody around them seemed to notice anything wrong as Harry stared in awe at her.

“Please now, Harry, close you’re mouth before a bird decides to nest in it.” Harry quickly shut his mouth at the freaky idea and followed Mary when she suddenly set off walking again. He knew she was weird, but he hadn’t expected that. He’d have to try especially hard to get back at her.

Their first point of call, as Mary said, was the grocers. They were in and out in under five minutes for the jam and bread, and spent an equally short amount of time in the fishmongers. But after visiting the fabric shop, that’s when Harry noticed anything unusual again. As Mary managed to put all the fabric in the same small shopping bag that she got from the grocers that she’d already put the jam, bread and fish into. He almost choked as she rolled it up and slid the long roll inside, somehow without it coming through the bottom of the bag. It shouldn’t have been possible, but there it was. And, again, the shop keeper never even batted an eye.

“How did you do that?” He finally asked as they left.

“Do what?”

“Put all that fabric in that bag.” She looked at him with furrowed brows, clearly confused, as if he’d just asked why she felt it necessary to breathe.

“Simple, I opened the bag and put it in.”

“Yeah, but how?” He asked, unsure how else he could possibly word his question.

“Exactly as I just said. Are you feeling alright Harry?” He spluttered to find anything to say. How on Earth was he the only person the planet to notice anything weird?! And why did she actually think he was ill to spot it. Maybe this witch had everyone else under her spell, but she wouldn’t fool him.

He suddenly lunged for the bag, wrenching it from her hands with surprisingly little resistance, and stuck his head inside to get a peek, but strangely, there seemed to be nothing there. It was only when he tipped the bag upside down that everything came out. The fabric came tumbling out first, landing on the dirty pavement in a heap. And with another shake, came the fish, flopping out onto the floor as the prawns tumbled out of their bag and spilled their juices. They were followed not far behind by the bread, which tumbled out in a heap, and the jam jars, which unfortunately shattered upon impact, spilling their contents all over the already dirtied velvet fabric.

“SEE! LOOK!” Harry triumphantly held the bag up to the pile of ruined shopping with a grin, proving there was too much to possibly fit inside. However, that’s when he realised that this time, everyone in the street noticed something wrong. Too many pairs of eyes fell on him as he realised what he’d just done.

Mary seemed equally unimpressed, but she didn’t go ballistic like he thought. She simply waved her hand to shoo him away as she inspected the mess, tutting to herself,

“Well, the stains might be washable, but I don’t suppose it’s such a good idea to eat food that’s been on the ground.” She bundled up the crushed velvet and put it back in the bag, along with the bread and the sea bass, which had thankfully been in their own sealed bags that hadn’t torn open like the one for the prawns. “I suppose we’ll have to head back to get more jam and prawns now.”

Harry was gobsmacked. How did she not care! It was infuriating, and there was no way he was going to spend a second longer with such a woman. Who did she think she was anyway? Shooing him away like he was just some kind of pest. He was just as important as her. No, he was more important, because it was her job to look after him. She had no right to treat him like that. And he wasn’t going to stay quiet about it.

“No!”

“Excuse me?” She seemed to hardly be phased by him, only serving to irritate him further.

“I’m not going with you! You’re a witch! An evil witch! You think you’re so great and you’re not! I’ve had enough!” Mary scoffed at him,

“Harry, please, are you sure you want to cause such a scene? Because I can guarantee you’re only going to embarrass yourself.”

“I. DON’T. CARE!” Stomping his foot on the ground, he started calling her every name he could think of, some being things a boy his age shouldn’t have ever even heard before. It was enough to surprise Mary, which was something in itself.

“I hate you!” He screamed, “I’m not going with you and there’s nothing you can do about it!” With that, he took off running, not even caring in the slightest about where he’d go. Sighing, Mary merely walked after him, clearly not too concerned about where he was going, while Harry kept running until he was out of sight.

He didn’t plan on going anywhere specific. The only idea he had was to go home, but his home wasn’t in London and he wouldn’t be able to get in without a key anyway. His parents were with his grandma and there was no way he’d go there, so in the end, he decided to just go back to the Banks house, having made himself certain that he wouldn’t let Mary Poppins or anyone else try to punish him.

He’d made it back to the park when he spotted John, Annabel and Georgie playing in the one area of grass in the entire park that they were actually allowed to play on. There was a lot of people there doing the same out in the summer sun, but their high spirits did little to lift his own mood. He didn’t want to play anymore. So he continued stomping on his way with the same sinister scowl plastered on his face. The siblings were quick to notice him, and with him being unaccompanied, they knew something was wrong and raced after him.

Harry was still ahead of them all when he made it back to Cherry Tree Lane. He’d just been stalking up the pavement, when he heard an annoyingly cheerful voice above him. It seemed the local leerie, Jack, had come to replace the glass in the lamp post. He was at the top of his ladder, about to fit the first pane when he spotted the furious boy below and said,

“Woah there fella’, why the long face?”

“SHUT UP!” Jack would have been startled by the unwarranted response he got, but he didn’t really get the chance. Harry was quickly pushing the ladder and before he had a chance to jump down, the ladder was shoved away, tipping sideways into the road. He came tumbling down and landed hard on the cobbled street, his back hitting the edge of the pavement as he fell, winding him. The ladder came hurtling down with a loud crash, knocking his bike over- that had the other sheets of glass in its basket and causing them to shatter all over the leerie- before landing on him and breaking the already cracked piece that he still held.

The pain didn’t quite register at first, but when he caught his breath and pushed the hefty ladder off of him, it scraped the shards of glass over his skin, and he definitely felt that. The ache in his back also made itself known as he tried to sit up. That was sure to leave at least a bruise and be sore for a few days. There was probably some blood, because he certainly felt scratched. But thankfully, when his hand ran up to check the back of his head, he didn’t find anything like that, only a bump that was agonisingly painful.

He only caught a glimpse of the boy who pushed him before he raced inside, still fuming. Thankfully, however, he wasn’t alone for long, as Michael came rushing out of the house.

“What on Earth- JACK!” Michael was at his side is seconds, helping him sit up, as he was still struggling. “Did Harry do this?!”

“If Harry’s the one who just went into your house, then yeah. Pushed my ladder over.”

“Oh god,” Michael muttered, “you’re covered in glass.” There were tiny shards all over the leerie, threatening to cut further into him, “hold still.” With a delicate touch, he carefully picked some pieces from his face, that had gotten much too close to his eyes for Michael’s liking, before brushing some more from around his neck and collar. His brow was furrowed in concern, and when he pulled his hand away, now stained red, it was the first time Jack realised he was bleeding.

“Jack!” Three younger voices shrieked from across the street and came sprinting over to the two of them.

“Careful! There’s glass everywhere!” The children stopped a few paces away at Michael’s warning. He wasn’t wrong when he said there was glass EVERYWHERE. The whole pavement seemed to have a dusting of shards. It was around this time that Mary arrived too, having finally caught up, and brushed past the kids to see to Jack.

“Thanks for the help,” Jack started, “but I should really get to work cleaning up this mess.”

“Nonsense, you’re going to come in for a cup of tea while I make sure there’s no more glass in your clothes and clean all this up,” Mary said, gesturing to the blood trickling down his face. Jack knew better than to argue, so he didn’t bother trying. And anyway, with the way his back was aching, he was rather glad to not have to do so much sweeping so soon.

With some difficulty, and a slight whimper when Jack’s spine tried to protest, Mary and Michael managed to help him to his feet and bring him inside, where they sat him down, got an ice pack for his head, and had Ellen make some tea.

While the children kept Jack company, Michael and Mary quietly slipped out of the room to discuss what happened with Harry.

“Harrison Damien Moon, open this door right now!” Michael and Mary had already been halted in their efforts as Harry had locked himself in the bathroom and was refusing to speak to them properly.

“No! Go away.”

“Harrison,” Mary’s tone was stern and commanding, but Michael couldn’t really decide whether it was angry or not, “you have until I count to three to open this door, or else I’m coming in.” Harry laughed.

“Idiot, it’s locked!”

“One.”

“Shut up! I’m not opening it.”

“Two.”

“Leave me alone, cow!”

“Three.” Mary sighed, “very well then.” She took ahold of the door handle and with a sudden jolt, managed to push it down despite Harry trying to hold it from the other side. Then, with a shove, the door shifted open, as if it had never even been locked in the first place, to reveal Harry looking more than a little startled by the sudden intrusion. “Now, I suggest you make your explanation for all of this phenomenally good.” Harry shifted where he stood, staring furiously at his shoes,

“I was annoyed.” He spat.

“Not good enough. Now get down there and apologise. And you can sweep up that mess you caused outside, too.”

“NO!” Harry shoved past Mary and Michael, thundering his way downstairs as they followed.

“Harry-”

“Shut up!” But before he managed to make it to the door, Michael had grabbed him by his jumper to stop him.

“I don’t know where you think you’re going, but you’re going to go apologise right now.”

“Fine!” Harry wrenched himself from Michael’s grip and stomped over to where Jack and the kids were sitting in the lounge and stood in front of the leerie.

“I’M! SORRY!” Harry screamed at Jack before running back out of the lounge. But while everyone needed a minute to get over the shock of what just happened, Mary calmly passed him a brush instead.

“You can try that again after you’ve cleaned up outside. And don’t dawdle.” Harry snatched the brush and stomped to the door,

“I HATE YOU!” With that, he flung the door open and slammed it shut again behind him, grumbling to himself as he went. But despite this, they watched him through the window as he did exactly as he was told, and started sweeping.

Silence finally descended over the house, and for a good minute, nobody wanted to disturb it, as they’d all started to get a bit of a headache from all the shouting. Ellen finally came out of hiding from the kitchen, having wanted to avoid all the commotion, and passed out a cup of tea to everyone. She was also the one to break the silence as she gasped at the state of Jack. And once she was filled in on exactly what had happened, she had been muttering to herself, on the way to do the laundry, about how Harry was a right piece of work in need of a darn good thrashing.

Meanwhile, Mary had taken to cleaning up Jack. Once she’d inspected his hair, hat and jacket, and removed the final small pieces she found, she took a damp cloth to clean the blood on his face and the various cuts littering his skin. The children had busied themselves with their homework, seeming to want to look more well behaved to distance themselves from Harry, while Michael watched Harry through the window. He’d gotten much of the glass swept up, but he was taking his time about it, so he still had about half to get through. He certainly hadn’t expected this boy to be such hard work.

“I’m so sorry about this Jack.” Michael sighed, “it’s just, he’s my nephew and we don’t really see them very often. I never really knew he’d be so much trouble. He’s been rioting all day.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Jack smiled, “I’m just glad I’m not the one looking after him. He’s a right tough bugger.”

“Stop moving.” Mary mumbled, still so focused on her task that she hadn’t really noticed she’d been so quiet. She’d managed to miss a tiny piece of glass in his hair, that had fallen out while she wiped his face, that was now dangerously close to his eye. She was trying to pick it out without poking him in the eye with her nail, which was not an easy task. Michael continued,

“Still. He shouldn’t have done that to you. How’s your back, by the way? You landed really awkwardly there.” Jack waited a moment for Mary to be sure she’d gotten the glass away before he responded,

“It’s a bit sore, but I don’t think there’s much more wrong with it. I’ll probably just end up with a nasty bruise.” Michael still looked guilty, but he was also slightly more relieved to know it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. In fact, Jack seemed to be mostly alright. The ice pack did a fine job at making the swelling go down where he’d banged his head, and once the blood had been cleaned, it seemed that the cuts had just been the small kind that bled a lot, so they needn’t worry about them too much. His back even started to recover a bit, no longer hurting at the slightest movement, but that was probably more due to the painkillers Michael gave him. All in all, he seemed to be alright, and after they’d had a chat and finished their tea, Mary was happy to let him go without feeling the need to call a doctor.

“Well I think it’s about time we go see how Harry’s doing, and whether he’s remembered his manners or not.” Mary chimed, walking out with Jack and Michael. However, when they got outside, they were met with something they were not at all expecting. It seemed they’d all gotten a little too distracted by their conversation, and they hadn’t noticed Harry leaving. The brush had been discarded on the floor with half of the glass not being swept and the ladder had been angrily kicked further into the road from where it had been originally left. But the thing they all noticed rather quickly was the fact that not only was Harry gone, but he seemed to have taken Jack’s bike with him aswell.

“Oh no, where’s he gone now?! All we have to do is look after him for a weekend, how is this so difficult?!” While Michael seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Mary and Jack seemed to just be tired. Mary was tired of his lack of discipline, and Jack was tired of his already busy day being made more difficult. It was just Sod’s law that all this would happen on a day he had to fix another 8 lamps.

“Right then,” Mary sighed, “I suppose we need to go find him then.” With a quick call in to Ellen to ask her to mind the children while they were gone, the three of them set off walking.

They hadn’t been particularly sure where to start looking, so they very quickly decided to split up and meet up again in certain places every now and then, to see if anyone had found any clues. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to have spotted him and as the time continued to pass, they were still no closer to finding Harry. They were searching for quite a while, to the point where the sun actually started to set, forcing Jack to go back to the office to borrow a spare bike to complete his evening rounds. This left Michael and Mary to search alone, further slowing the already slow process. Their feet were aching and they knew that they would have difficulty catching him if he was constantly moving on a bike that was faster than them. Infact, they were just about to give up and go back to the house in the hopes he’d returned, when they heard people shouting on the bridge.

“Come here you little bastard!” Mary and Michael came running as soon as they heard the trouble, already dreading what they’d find, and sure enough, it was Harry. Well, he hadn’t been the one that was shouting.

“You dirty thief! Stealing from a leerie, eh? He needs his bike to do his job, and if he can’t, he’ll be fired!”

“You really that much of a selfish scumbag to cost a man his job in this day and age?!” Michael and Mary arrived just in time to see two leerie’s dragging Harry from Jack’s bike rather roughly. The boy was kicking and fighting, but the leeries were stronger than him. They practically dragged him from the bike, one holding him by the back of his shirt and the other with a vice like grip around his arm. Harry thrashed in their grip, but when he managed to kick one of them in the knee and break away from his grip to run away, the other grabbed him and almost violently dragged him back towards them.

“You little twat! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Get. OFF. ME!” He swung for the second leerie, catching him in the nose and using his opportunity to wriggle free and run-

Straight into Mary and Michael.

“There you are. What on Earth are you doing out here? We’ve been searching for hours!” Noticing who’d arrived, the leeries were quick to rat the boy out,

“He nicked Jack’s bike and was gonna throw it in the Thames!” Michael was appalled by what the leeries said, and when Harry didn’t try to defend himself, Mary scoffed, getting a firm grip of his arm so he couldn’t run away,

“My my, you really want to be a pain today, don’t you?” But her attention very quickly left Harry, as she looked to the two leeries instead.

“I’m terribly sorry about all this. Jack’s borrowed a bicycle to do his rounds tonight, so you can return this to him when he gets back later this evening.” She didn’t falter as Harry tried to free himself and (when that failed) attempted to drag her away with him. She didn’t even look at him as she continued speaking, “this boy won’t be causing anymore problems for you. Not as long as I’m around.” Harry laughed.

“Thanks, Mary.” The first leerie said.

“And have a good night.” The second added.

“Good night to you too.” Her smile had been genuine, but when they parted ways, it disappeared as soon as she spared a glance to the boy she was practically dragging along by that point. She refused to slow down and allow him to sulk, giving him a very difficult time to stay upright if he attempted to stop walking.

It was a long walk home, but in reality, that was a good addition to the punishment intended for him. It was cold and it was windy, and very soon, Harry was regretting trying to run away. Michael was at his wits end, with no clue whatsoever about what should be done with him. One thing he was certainly adamant of, however, was that he wouldn’t be looking after him again at any point in the future. Once was more than enough. Mary knew what to do, though. It wasn’t often she came across such rebellious children, but it happened. She could honestly say she’d dealt with worse, aswell. And unfortunately, it comes to a point when the only option of discipline is something a little more creative than what a parent would normally try. She’d make a fine boy out of him. Of that, she was sure.

Which is why everyone was rather surprised by how little she did when she got back. Michael ended up being the one to deal with him, while Mary stayed mostly out of the way, only making brief comments whenever she saw fit. She didn’t care to shout at children and felt she’d been angry enough already. So she let it go instead, leaving Harry to get frustrated that she didn’t seem to care about him.

The children had been rather excited to see what sort of magic based punishment she had in store and after spending the hours of the adults’ search coming up with potential methods she might use, they were sorely disappointed to see nothing happen. But they daren’t say anything. They didn’t think it would be a particularly bright idea to aggravate the situation further.

By the end of the evening, all that happened was Harry stormed upstairs to sulk in the nursery, while everyone else ate a rather late dinner downstairs. Mary had only said that it was his choice whether he wanted to be there or not, before she too settled down with the rest of the family. They knew she had to have something planned.

Harry had been pacing in the nursery for almost 45 minutes, gradually wearing a hole in the carpet at the rate he was going. He knew everyone would be going to bed soon, and he didn’t really want to have to deal with his cousins incessant questions. He had to get away. It’s not like anyone would care, Mary certainly wouldn’t. She’d barely bothered to say anything to him since they found him. All she’d done was look at him like he was just filthy scum that needed to be gotten rid of. He hated when people acted like they were better than him, and with Mary’s high and mighty ways, he wanted nothing more than to slap her.

In this time, Harry had moved to the balcony, where he leant against the railing, furiously drumming his fingers as he thought. The lamp outside the house stood dark. With all four panels broken, a flame couldn’t stay lit, so Jack had never tried, deciding they’d be able to manage for one night and he could come back to fix it in the morning, instead. It was a particularly windy night too, which is why Harry was so surprised to see a flame in the lamp suddenly burst to life.

It flickered normally, as if it was protected by its case, and no matter how hard the wind blew, it refused to blow out. He stared in awe as the light seemed to glow brighter, and bigger too. The flame seemed to grow until it was about the size of a golf ball. He could’ve sworn he saw a shape, but it had to be his eyes playing tricks on him. He was convinced he imagined the little face being formed in the fire, until he couldn’t deny it anymore, and the flame morphed into the form of a lean hare and leapt from the lamp. It was unusually small and difficult to make out its features properly, but the way it hopped made it more than clear to Harry what he was looking at. Though he couldn’t say he knew how it was possible.

Harry’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and his mouth fell wide open, as the little fire bunny looked up to him. It looked down the road and up to him, hopping slightly towards wherever it had chosen to go, before looking up to him again. It wanted him to follow.

Harry wasn’t sure what to do. He couldn’t go through the main house, they wouldn’t let him leave. He’d have to be cleverer than that. He clambered over the balcony’s railing, before leaping to the shelter over the front door and sliding down the column like he’d done with the lamp earlier that day. However, he couldn’t really reach all the way around, so it was much more difficult.

Once down, he approached the hare which started to hop away once it was convinced he was following. He didn’t know where it was taking him, but he certainly wanted to find out. As it’s speed increased, sparks started to skitter out behind him. So many, infact, that Harry began trying to dodge them, convinced there was enough flying out to light his shoelaces on fire. But as his walk turned into a run to keep up, nothing of the sorts happened.

With each lamp they passed, its flame jumped out and mixed in to the body of the hare, allowing it to gradually grow to a more typical size, and letting Harry see its face more clearly. It’s ears and tail flickered as a wispy smoke emanated from them, leaving behind a temporary trail as it went. Eventually, the hare was big enough that when it ran, it got too far ahead and had to stop to let Harry catch up, who was already sprinting. He never realised hares were so quick. No wonder it had a chance to sleep in its race with the tortoise.

“Where are we going?” He wasn’t too sure why he asked. It was just an animal, afterall. But considering it was magic and made of fire, he was actually surprised that it couldn’t talk aswell.

He continued to follow it further into the seediest corner of London. Hardly a safe place to be when you’re alone at night. But that thought didn’t stop him. And neither did the wind. The large lump of fire that he was following was enough to keep him warm. But it didn’t burn. Even when they ran through a park. It’s hot little feet did little more that singe the grass tips, rather than set them alight entirely. And Harry was admittedly a little disappointed, as it would have been a pretty exciting spectacle to witness.

They passed through the park and ran down an alley nearby, coming to a dead end. But before Harry could ask what they were supposed to do, the answer made itself clear. This just so happened to be the exact place his cousins had come with Mary and Jack when they got lost in the fog. So right on cue, the lamp sunk into the ground, leaving a hole as it went and the pole growing for Harry to use to slide down.

“You can’t be serious!” Harry bellowed, looking down into the infinitely dark hole. “I can’t go down your rabbit hole. It must be filthy down there!” The hare looked at him briefly, as if it was slightly offended, but otherwise ignored the comment, and hopped down without hesitation. Once at the bottom, he could see the glow of its fire, and he was comforted slightly to see it wasn’t a particularly long way down. The hare sat on the base of the lamp post, looking up at him expectantly. And so, to please his new friend, Harry plucked up the courage and headed down.

The dark tunnel came to an end when he reached the bottom, to be illuminated by the hare. It seemed this wasn’t a den, but a sewer. And a little way down, he could see a way out. But when he hopped off the post and asked, ‘were next?’ the hare didn’t move. It looked slightly nervous as it looked down to the water pooled at the bottom of the sewer and up to him.

“Oh, right,” he said when he finally realised, “the water will hurt you. I could carry you out. You won’t burn me, will you?” It shook its head, and when Harry held out his arms, it leapt right into them. It was warmer than most animals would be, but certainly nothing close to the temperature of a literal fire. And it was surprisingly soft too, as it snuggled it’s terrified trembling body closer to his chest.

“I guess you don’t live down here then?” It shook its head again and he set off with the hare, reaching the end of the sewer in only a few paces to see the end covered in a drapery of plants. And when the hare finally had the courage to look, seeing where they were, it leapt free and burst through the foliage. Harry couldn’t really see it, but he could see its light. And as he had done all night, he continued to follow it, pushing through the green leaves leading to who-knows-where.

Who-knows-where turned out to be an abandoned yard behind a greenhouse. Stairs came down from the glass building to the yard where he stood, circling around the dry fountain at the back of the space. Over thirty lamps were lining the area, a few too many in his opinion, but then again, they probably did a darn good job keeping the place bright. However they weren’t even lit and he seemed to have been the only person there to see them in years.

The hare had taken a seat on the edge of the fountain, and when it looked at him expectantly, he assumed it wanted him to do the same. So without hesitation, he strode over and sat beside the flaming hare.

“It’s a nice place,” he commented. “But it’s a bit dark.”

“Would you prefer some light?” Harry froze at the sudden voice that was coming from somewhere behind the fountain, but when he spun around, he wasn’t quick enough to spot the owner before they hid in the darkness.

“Eyes front!” It hissed, “Otherwise I can’t let you have any more light.”

“Oh, um, ok.” Harry hesitantly faced forward, not wanting to anger whatever magical creature he’d been led to. Because it had to be magical, despite the local accent, why on earth would a rabbit made of fire lead him to anything else?

“Better. Now keep still.” The hare seemed happy to turn around and face the speaker, and when it did, it nodded before hopping in to the centre of the yard. Harry watched in confusion as it sat, getting itself comfy, before splitting itself into lots of tiny little flames, each one shooting out to a lamp, before scaling its pole, slipping into its case and bursting to life, bringing a warm glow to the yard. Harry was slightly disheartened at the loss of his new friend, but the lamp light was equally comforting to have.

“Now then,” the voice started, “you’re Harry.” It was a statement rather than a question which only led the boy to be confused as to why he’d even say it.

“Yes?”

“You don’t sound so sure. You are Harry. Are you not?”

“I am.” The voice chuckled,

“Very well then. So, I heard you’ve been causing some trouble.” Harry groaned, he didn’t need to deal with this from any more people than he already did.

“You’re not going to lecture me are you?”

“Of course not. How much do you think I really care whether you behave or not?”

“I’m guessing not a lot.”

“Correct. If you were mine, I wouldn’t be having this talk. I’d have left you for dead years ago.” A shiver ran down his spine as the voice came closer, he wanted nothing more than to look, but upon sensing this, the voice quickly shot out, “Don’t you dare turn around!”

“I won’t!”

“Now, here’s the thing. Humans and I are very different. They tend to get sentimental of their young. But everyone has their limits.” With a snap of his fingers, the lamps began to change. In the fire trapped within each case, he could see faces. Mother. Father. Michael. Mary. Georgie. John. Annabel. Grandma. Everyone. They didn’t look happy. Something was very wrong. They looked almost like they were sad. Or angry. Or afraid. It turned his stomach. What the hell had they done to them?! He got up and ran to the various posts, completely unsure of what to do as the voice started laughing at him.

“What are you doing?! What did you do to them?!”

“What did YOU do to them?” It’s sudden roar reverberated through the yard, and in an attempt to feel brave, he turned to face the voice, only to once again be shouted at,

“I SAID EYES FRONT!” He obeyed immediately, having not gotten a chance to look at them. “Stupid boy. It’s really a simple order. If you can’t follow that, then they’ll be leaving you faster than I originally thought.” Harry’s head shot up,

“What do you mean?” They laughed again, coming ever closer, taking all the willpower he had not to turn around.

“How long do you think they’ll stick around when you treat them like dirt? Yes people are loyal to their family, but they’re more loyal to themselves. They won’t want to put themselves through hell all the time. And if that’s all you’re good for, then I must take a guess and say you’ve got until July to get your act together.”

“Why July?”

“Just a guess.” His sinister tone tailed off in a chuckle that turned Harry’s stomach. Where was the friendly hare when you needed him? “I’d also go as far as to hazard a guess and say you broke the rules to come here, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“June.” The voice was dripping acid as it came closer to whisper in his ear. But still, he refused to turn around. “You know, if you want them gone so badly, it’s really quite simple. All it takes is a click of the fingers.” Harry looked down to his hands. That was it? He was looking at the very things that could get rid of his family? But he didn’t want that. Not really. He just didn’t like their rules. They always say it’s for your own good, but he didn’t believe that. He’d escaped the house to come here, though, and he was talking to a rather angry person who was threatening him. So maybe they were right afterall.

The voice laughed again.

“Infact, how about you try it?” An unknown force seemed to lift his arm from his side. As Harry looked towards the faces in the lights, they started to panic as soon as they looked at him. His cousins screamed. His mother was crying. But his father didn’t even look surprised. And Mary just looked ashamed. He didn’t mean to! It wasn’t his fault! He wasn’t the one moving his arm. Stop. STOP IT! He couldn’t breathe and the voice was laughing. Shut up! He could feel his own heart attempting to wrench itself free of his chest as tears stung his eyes. He was burning. His whole arm was burning. He didn’t want to do this! He loved them! He loved them all! Even when he said he didn’t! Stop it! STOP IT!

Click.

The faces stopped. They burst. Thousands of sparks rained down from their posts, scattering all over the yard. He hastily tried to wipe his face as they started to reform into the hare. The hare he missed so much. Maybe it could get him away. But as the poor thing attempted to gather itself together and figure out its surroundings, an arm grabbed Harry, spinning him around. He was facing a sort of nest, just behind the fountain, a den that was clearly fit for a rather large creature and, judging by the bones, a rather savage one too. The voice shot behind him, and Harry was left to listen to the panicked squeaking of the hare as whoever the creature was began to devour it. And for the first time that night, he was truly afraid.

“Who are you? I don’t understand! What’s going on?!” The creature let out a snarling laugh.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. All that matters is that you’re all alone.” With each word, the creature drew nearer and nearer and nearer. It’s breath was hot on his neck and he could feel his pulse racing, further interesting the beast behind him. He had to look. He needed to see it. 

“And I’m hungry.” He didn’t care anymore. Harry whipped around before the beast had a chance to react. And as soon as he laid his eyes on them, he wished he hadn’t.

An enormous wolf stood in front of him. Big and burly. Blood was soaked into its patchy, scraggly fur around its mouth, full of razor sharp teeth. It was bigger than him, even though it was still standing on all fours, and judging by the amount of muscle it had, it looked to be able to very easily take advantage of that. Fur seemed to have fallen away from his body in clumps all over, leaving infected and dirty skin on view to the world. Rotting eyes peered out from its scar riddled face to look him over as its scruffy tail swished low behind it. It’s ears flattened, it’s weight shifted. It was ready to pounce.

“Now, what did I tell you before?” It took a step closer as Harry’s breaths started coming in short bursts.

“I’m sorry.”

“What did I tell you?!” It roared, causing him to stumble backwards and trip over, falling back into the empty fountain.

“Don’t turn around.”

“Exactly.” It pressed in closer, stepping up onto the edge of the fountain and peering down to Harry, breathing down his neck and inhaling his delicious scent.

“So now what?” The wolf seemed not to have heard the question at first, having been to busy admiring the meal before it. But suddenly, it started chuckling to itself.

“Now?” It looked him dead in the eye, any sense of friendliness it once had was gone, replaced with a savage stare, “Run.”

Harry didn’t need to be told twice. He shot up and bolted out of the gates. The wolf was somewhere behind him, laughing like a maniac. And then he heard it’s heavy steps coming loud and fast. The chase had begun. 

His feet beat the ground as he desperately tried to put as much distance between himself and the wolf as physically possible. His heart thrashed in terror and the beast behind him seemed to sense his fear, laughing raucously as he went. He didn’t know where to go, but he knew he couldn’t stop. He was on the main road again in only moments, but that did little to deter his pursuer, who only grumbled for a moment before continuing to follow.

“HELP! HELP ME!” His screams echoed off the buildings like some big empty room. But it was also similar, in that, it was as if nobody was there to hear his cries. His screams got louder but they simply bounced off deaf ears as he kept running. The growls were louder and more sadistic. And it seemed to just be trying to make the most horrific noises it could, purely to taunt him.

Racing along the road, he took a turn, barrelling his way down an alleyway, where he finally stopped. He’d reached a dead end. His breathing reached a frenzied pitch as he attempted to hide, but the darkness was the only thing there, and it did little to cover him. Wrapping his arms around himself, he accepted his fate. This was it. This was the end. He turned around and let the beast come to him. He didn’t want to see it. But he couldn’t get away. Nobody would come for him, not after he pushed them all away. He should’ve never run away or been rude. He shouldn’t have broken the light or stole the bike. He shouldn’t have argued and he definitely shouldn’t have put a deer in his grandmother’s house. But hindsight is never particularly useful and it served as no help when he burst into tears.

“I’m sorry!”

The beast came closer, it’s pointed fangs glistening in the night, and he could almost feel their fur tickling his neck. It’s breath was hot on his neck as it’s growl set his whole body trembling. But just as he thought those powerful jaws would tear through his abdomen, a pair of arms wrapped around him, protecting him as the beast backed off.

“Thank you Jack, that will be quite sufficient.” Harry’s breath caught as he spun around to see there wasn’t a wolf there at all. Jack the lamplighter stood there with a devilish grin, offering him a knowing wink, before waving at Harry and his saviour as he wandered off. How was it possible? Why???

He spun back around, looking up to none other than Mary Poppins, looking down at him with relief that her plan appeared to have worked.

“Now Harry, I do hope you’ve learnt a lesson from all of this.” He nearly choked at her words. Seriously?! He could’ve died! But as if she knew he was about to argue, Mary gave him a cautioning look, and he paused.

“Yes... I’m sorry.” She looked at him for a moment longer before smiling.

“There we go. That was much better than before. That wasn’t so hard now was it?” He shook his head. “Alright then. Just remember, I’m not the only one you owe an apology. I’m sure your grandmother would like one over that deer situation.”

“But- how did you- I never told you about that!!” Mary merely raised a brow and he was silenced. He would have to get used to that. Mary just had a habit of knowing things and nobody could explain how she did it. It was the sort of thing you had to just accept.

A powerful gust of wind shot by, causing Harry to let out a yelp and huddle closer to Mary for warmth. 

“Alright. I think it’s time to get you back home. Come along.” Taking his hand, she started leading him back to Cherry Tree Lane. She was right. He’d have a lot of apologising to do. But after seeing that wolf, he was already coming up with ways to make it up to his friends and family. He certainly didn’t want to come across that thing again. But it might take a while to face Jack. If he really was the wolf, he wanted nothing to do with him. Mary would have to be with him if he were to try to get close. 

Another gust of wind shot by as Harry looked up to the lamps they passed, and even though he was still unsure whether the magic had been real, when he focused, he was sure he could see the hare. He was ok!

“What are you smiling at?” Mary asked.

“Nothing. It’s just that everything’s better now.” Mary smiled at him, for the first time, lovingly.

“Good.”


End file.
